FameCrawler : accidental overdose

Quaid Overdose Case is Closed

Karl Erikson — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:36:00 GMT

As we reported earlier, the Quaids have settled with the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center over a potentially fatal overdose of blood thinners given to their new twins. They're getting $750,000 from the hospital and now the deal is official, as of yesterday. Part of the deal is that Cedars-Sinai won't admit any wrongdoing.

Um, what? I've never understood this crap. You won't say you were wrong but you're going to give me three-quarters of a million dollars? What, out of the goodness of your hearts?

Zoe Grace and Thomas Boone Quaid were given 1,000 times the normal dose of heparin, very easily could have died, and yet they did nothing wrong?! Freaking lawyers. And doctors.

And yeah, the hospital got a fine of $25,000 by the California Department of Health for the error, which is less than a slap on the wrist.

The Quaids have also sued the manufactuer of Heparin, Baxter Healthcare Corporation, for negligence regarding their poorly labeled bottles.

I'm not generally for lawsuits, but I say good for Dennis and Kimberly Quaid. I think if someone screwed with my family, I'd be all over the litigiousness myself.

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Quaids Head Home for the Holidays

Dennis Quaid and Wife Settle Over Babies Overdose

Quaids Head Home for the Holidays

Karl Erikson — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 18:07:00 GMT

Fresh on the heels of their $750,000 settlement against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the Quaids are leaving Los Angeles for the holidays. Looks like they're headed for Texas, Dennis' home state. Here are Dennis, wife Kimberly, and the 1-year-old twins Thomas and Zoe.

Dennis, 54, is starring in the anticipated movie next year,"G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra."

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Dennis Quaid and Wife Settle Over Babies Overdose

Dennis Quaid and Wife Settle Over Babies' Overdose

Karl Erikson — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:37:00 GMT

After over a year of fighting, Dennis and Kimberly Quaid have finally settled with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for the accidental overdose of their twins last year. Two weeks after their twins, Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace, were born, they were given a huge overdose of Heparin, which is a blood thinner. They spent subsequent days fighting for their lives.

Well, the Quaids agreed to settle for $750,000. The papers filed in L.A. Superior Court yesterday say, "The settlement is the result of extensive negotiations between the parties and their respective legal representatives, and is intended to avoid the time, expense and uncertainty of litigation." In other words, Cedars-Sinai done messed up GOOD.

The California Department of Public Health also fined Cedars-Sinai $25,000, which seems a pittance for something like that.

The babies are now in fine health, thank God. However, Dennis and Kimberly also have a lawsuit pending against Baxter Healthcare, the makers of Heparin. They say the packaging is at fault, since the adult and pediatric doses look so similar.

What? The healthcare industry making a mistake? Impossible! I can't believe it!

Dennis has another child with ex Meg Ryan...Jack is now 16.

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Everybody Still Loves Heath

HerBadMother — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 14:01:00 GMT

In case you were wondering, no, the love for Heath Ledger will never stop.

The most recent edition of Interview magazine devotes an entire spread to tributes to the late actor, who is lauded for being a great father, a gifted actor, and an all around awesome guy. Did you doubt it? A sampling:

Amy Pascal: "He was always introducing you to 3,000 mates whose names you can’t remember."

Philip Seymour Hoffman: "Heath didn’t have the cynicism that this business can eventually put upon people, or the pretension that certain artists can carry with them sometimes. He had a really honest quality about him. He obviously had never lost his wide-eyed optimism."

Sean Penn: "Heath was not simply a quiet and gifted actor who liked to go surfing, though that is how I primarily knew him in life. In the time we spent together, we spoke a bit about family, about travels, but most of all, about film.Yet, in his unassuming way, he never revealed to me the visual poet of the first order who I discovered watching the film clips he directed, music videos and such, after his death. His talent does speak volumes of the kind man, the loving father, and, in fact, the brilliant and gifted guy I really missed out on—that we all did, in the long run. Heath might have been a giant."

Other celebrities interviewed include Michelle Williams, Naomi Watts, Ellen DeGeneres, and Heath's I’m Not There director Todd Haynes.

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Heath Ledger's Will

Michelle Williams & Naomi Watts Speak About Heath

Sassy Smith — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:32:00 GMT

It's been almost 2 months since actor Heath Ledger passed away - accidentally overdosing on prescription meds. And for the first time, Michelle Williams - his ex fiance and mother of his daughter Matilda - speaks out. Also, another past love of his - Naomi Watts - has only kind things to say about him. Here are excerpts from Interview magazine:

Michelle says:

"For as long as I'd known him, he had bouts with insomnia. He just had too much energy. His mind was turning, turning, turning - always turning. He had an uncontrollable energy. He buzzed. He would jump out of bed.

"I think that the interesting thing about Heath, which maybe people have only really fully discovered in his death, is how vulnerable he was. You can pick up on it in his performances, but it’s easy to overlook because he was so physical and beautiful and strong and masculine. But there was always that underlying sensitivity. That’s who he was."

She remembers the time following Matilda's birth as the best of her life:

"The first six weeks of our daughter's Matilda's life was this incredibly insular, protected time.

"It was just he and I and her, living in our new house in Brooklyn. No nanny, no help - not really even any family. A couple of friends came through, but we were really committed to forming a bond just between the three of us. And then that bubble got broken with work.

"Brokeback Mountain was going to come out and the press stuff just started rearing up. But those six weeks were just blissful."

What Naomi, 39, had to say:

"His acting was just so touching, so connected in truth. I think he was just getting started.

"That's the deepest tragedy in terms of his work - he was just beginning to own it and embrace it."

It's still so sad.

Other stars interviewed: Ellen DeGeneres, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Sean Penn and Heath's I’m Not There director Todd Haynes.

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Heath Ledger's Will

Heath Ledger's Family: We Will Take Care of Michelle and Matilda

Dennis Quaid Suing Over Twin's Overdose

HerBadMother — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:45:00 GMT

Dennis Quaid and his wife, Kimberly Buffington, filed a lawsuit today in Chicago against Baxter Healthcare, the drug company that manufactures Heparin, the drug that was maladministered to their twins. Their lawyer has stated that the Quaid family is not interested in the money, but just wants to ensure that this doesn't happen to anyone else.

I totally get wanting to sue the asses off of anybody who put my child in harm's way. Totally. But, um, why just the drug company? As TMZ points out, the twins were harmed because somebody gave them the wrong dose. Shouldn't that somebody be sued, or at least the hospital that employs that somebody?

Still, I'm glad that the Quaid twins are doing better, and that their parents have moved from worry to anger.

Dennis Quaid Twins Update: Hospital Was Warned About Heparin Dangers

sweatpantsmom — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 23:25:00 GMT

TMZ is reporting that the FDA issued a warning back in February about the dangers of mistaking the low and high-doses of heparin. Dennis Quaid's twins, who were born earlier this month via a surrogate, were overdosed twice with the blood-clotting drug this past weekend. Hospital officials list them as stable, though they remain in intensive care.

In a safety alert dated February 6, 2007, the FDA and the drug's manufacturer warned of the dangers of switching 10 and 10,000 unit vials of the drug. The alert was issued in light of an overdosing that occurred in Indiana in September of 2006. Three infants died in that incident. It's being reported that a memo was circulated around that time at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center warning of the danger.